4-C-1

Title: A Trip to the Zoo

Grade: Kindergarten

Objective: Students will compare an old poster of the zoo to a new poster/advertisement. Students will compare photographs of the Philadelphia Zoo when it opened to present time.

Procedures:

  1. Students will prepare for their unit on the Zoo before going on a field trip to the zoo. We will begin by making a KWL chart about the zoo.
  2. We will fill in the K & W section of the chart first without seeing the pictures and posters.
  3. Then I will add the posters, both new and old and we will see if there is anything else we can add to those two sections of the chart.
  4. We will use the SEA method to discuss the posters and how they changed throughout the 150 years that the Philadelphia Zoo has been open.
  5. I will introduce the photos of the Philadelphia Zoo both past and present. We will work on a Venn diagram to compare the old photos to the new ones.
  6. Students will work on creating their own poster to advertise the zoo and we will hang these in the hall to let everyone know where we will be going on our field trip.
  7. After we return from our trip to the Zoo, we will re-visit the KWL chart and fill in the L portion of the chart.

Materials:

Historical Poster of Philadelphia Zoo:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?wpapos:1:./temp/~ammem_qRyi::displayType=1:m856sd=cph:m856sf=3b51495:@@@wpapo

New Poster of Philadelphia Zoo:
http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/about/AboutZoo/Press-Info/Press-Archives/Get-Your-FREE-Commemorative-Phillies-Zoo-Poster-Sa.htm

Pictures from the past and present of the Philadelphia Zoo:
http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/phila/Videos-and-Photos/150th-Anniversary-Photos/Anniversary-Wallpapers.htm

Notes about the lesson: This lesson will promote critical thinking because students will need to look closely at the posters to see what kind of information we can fill in our SEA chart. They will also need to think critically when comparing the pictures as we fill out the Venn diagram. As students are visiting the zoo, they will need to remember some of the information they learn to be able to tell the class when we fill out the L portion of the KWL chart. In science, we will have been learning about animals and our class field trip is to the zoo. This lesson will relate history, science, and language arts to a field trip that we will be taking.

Tauni,

This is an absolutely wonderful lesson for kindergarten students! I think the students would really get into this lesson and be so captured by the content!
Jeanine